Gaura Purnima 2008

Happy Gaura Purnima

2008

Maharaja Rantideva

I'd like to talk a little bit about Maharaja Rantideva. I first heard about him when I was very young, and then too I heard about him through the famous Amar Chitra Katha comics! The title was "Tales of Vishnu" I believe, and I was very impressed with Maharaja Rantideva's story at that young age. I was extremely surprised to see that while his story is contained in the Srimad Bhagavatam, he is essentially a minor figure and hardly ever mentioned.

Here is his story, taken from Prabhupada's chapter summary of SB 9.21:

The son of Bharadvaja was Manyu, and Manyu's sons were Brhatkṣatra, Jaya, Mahavirya, Nara and Garga. Of these five, Nara had a son named Sankrti, who had two sons, named Guru and Rantideva. As an exalted devotee, Rantideva saw every living entity in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he completely engaged his mind, his words and his very self in the service of the Supreme Lord and His devotees. Rantideva was so exalted that he would sometimes give away his own food in charity, and he and his family would fast.

Once, after Rantideva spent forty-eight days fasting, not even drinking water, excellent food made with ghee was brought to him, but when he was about to eat it a brahmana guest appeared. Rantideva, therefore, did not eat the food, but instead immediately offered a portion of it to the brahmana. When the brahmana left and Rantideva was just about to eat the remnants of the food, a sudra appeared. Rantideva therefore divided the remnants between the sudra and himself. Again, when he was just about to eat the remnants of the food, another guest appeared. Rantideva therefore gave the rest of the food to the new guest and was about to content himself with drinking the water to quench his thirst, but this also was precluded, for a thirsty guest came and Rantideva gave him the water.

This was all ordained by the Supreme Personality of Godhead just to glorify His devotee and show how tolerant a devotee is in rendering service to the Lord. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, being extremely pleased with Rantideva, entrusted him with very confidential service. The special power to render the most confidential service is entrusted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead to a pure devotee, not to ordinary devotees.

One really should read the whole story in the text for the astounding details but it is easy to see what a great devotee Rantideva is. Who can imagine that even after a mega-vrata of 48-day fasting, Rantideva was nonchalant about sharing his well-deserved food and even sacrificed his drinking water in respect to the principle of charity. Bhagavatam mentions that the brahaman, sudra etc. were actually the devas Brahma, Shiva, and so on. And also Bhagavatam doesn't say so, the ACK version held that Rantideva was vouchsafed a vision of his beloved Lord Vishnu. The whole drama took place because Vishnu and the devas were in Vaikuntha discussing Rantideva's devotion, and the devas wanted to test his dedication to charity.

I don't really know why I enjoyed this story so much when I was young. I think, in some ways, I observe similar principles myself. There have been several incidents in my life over the years where I ended up sacrificing something or other so that other people could enjoy. I still do this to some extent, even when unnecessary. I think that the trick is to think nothing of it. Sometimes it doesn't even register in my mind. It doesn't seem to register much in the minds of other people either, but that's another story.

But anyway, I think that this is in connection with the idea that we are supposed to dedicate every thought and act to Krishna, by which we need not worry about our own upkeep too much. Maybe such things happen through the will of the Lord. Who knows how many of us could be tested like Rantideva, and would we pass or fail? Here is a nice verse from Bhagavatam that was spoken by Rantideva:

na kAmaya 'haM gatim izvarAt parAm

aStarddhi-yuktAm apunar-bhavaM vA
ArtiM prapadye 'khila-deha-bhAjAm
antaH-sthito yena bhavanty aduHkhAH

"I do not desire to attain the abode of the Supreme Lord, nor do I desire the eight yogic perfections or the cessation of birth and rebirth. I simply want to stay among the living entitities and accept all sufferings on their behalf, so that they may be freed from distress." (SB 9.21.12)

Whoa! This is big! It is impossible to describe the glories of this one Bhagavatam verse, as it expresses spiritual sentiments that are so deep that only a rare soul can plumb. This shows how Rantideva's heart was so deep that, even when he was on the point of death, his heart never moved an inch away from his principles and even went further as to say that he was willing to suffer even more on behalf of others. Learned readers will be reminded of a similar petition to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by His great devotee Vasudeva Datta, who similarly prayed that he would be willing to suffer the karma of all living entities so that they may be delivered. He did this because it broke his heart to see people suffering (CC Madhya 15.159-171). And after hearing his prayer, how did Mahaprabhu react? "When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu heard Vasudeva Datta's statement, His heart became very soft. Tears flowed from His eyes, and He began to tremble." (CC 2.15.164)

Such a prayer touched the heart of Mahaprabhu, do you know how great that is? Mahaprabhu may listen to everybody's prayers with His ears, but how many prayers touch His heart? Shouldn't we all aspire for that? Mahaprabhu Himself noted that Vasudeva Datta's prayer was relatively "unsurprising" as Datta was the reincarnation of Prahlada Maharaja. By this, He meant that Prahlada had similarly prayed for the welfare of all suffering living entitites when he was granted the darshan of Lord Nrsimhadeva. One may look at the Prahlada-stuti of Srimad Bhagavatam for further information, especially SB 7.9.41-44. So this shows that Mahaprabhu is especially touched when one is not so concerned about oneself, but desires to ease the endless sufferings of others and to see them get deliverance from the same.

This is in perfect consonance with devotional sentiments. In Sri Vilapa-Kusumunjali (6), Sri Raghunatha das Gosvamipada praised his guru, Sanatana Gosvami, by referring to him as "kripambudhi" (ocean of mercy) and "para-duhkha-duhkhi" (rough translation: conscious of the suffering of others). The heart of the Vaishnava is like that. The Vaishnava may be self-satisfied in his worship of the Lord (yayAtmA suprasIdati, SB 1.2.6) but sooner or later one's attention will be called to the sufferings of others and how they are essentially bereft of the solution to their problems. A Vaishnava's deep heart is always considering how to relieve the suffering of others and how to deliver them. This is the reason why Caitanya Mangala begins with the story of Devarishi Narada and his petition to the Lord at Dvaraka.

And, of course, the most important reason for desiring the welfare of all is that such a sentiment is immensely pleasing to the Lord.

Wow, I wanted to talk about Maharaja Rantideva and look what's happened!

Mahaprabhu loves humility

I've been looking through a Net edition of Bhakti-ratnakara lately and, with all my recent reflections about the importance of humility and so on, I found this nice passage that touched my heart:

"Whoever got the mercy of Sri Caitanya developed humble behavior. A devotee never considered himself great but took a most humble position. Although Sri Krsna Caitanya was God Himself, He nevertheless maintained the humble mood of a devotee. Gaura Raya knew that happiness lay in the mood of humility and He taught that principle amongst his followers." (BR 615-618)

This made me realise that even the principle of humility is observed by the mercy of Gaura as it is ia function of His kripa, and that those who are truly humble are such because they have received said kripa. At the same time, by virtue of the trinad api sunicena verse, His followers are enjoined to practice humility in all their dealings.

I thought about it for a long time, but I eventually decided against writing my reflections on recent less-than-civilised events in certain forums as I felt that that little good would be accomplished by my doing so. However, the said events did make me realise just how easy it is to give lip-service to the principles of Vaishnavism and to perhaps project an image of oneself as a "perfect" practising devotee. It then becomes interesting to observe the standard of behaviour employed when events happen that disrupt the general understandings of people. It seems to me that people are very quick to rip apart and demonise before first taking a step back and wondering if their reactions are really justified, or will they inflame the situation further. In any case, history has usually shown that it is not humble behaviour.

I find it useful to read and re-read the "basics" every once in a while, Bhagavad-Gita and all of that. The reason is because we may sometimes get carried away with our vanity and "higher knowledge" that we think we are in the "university class" and the lessons of the "elementary school" have been learnt long ago and are taken for granted. This is noted in Madhurya-kadambini as 'taraṅga-raṅgiṇī', a fault that is an eventual outcome of becoming 'proud' of one's devotional achievements. Although I think I'm being rather loose with that definition. In any case, a lesson from Bhagavad-Gita is useful here, I think:

anudvega-karaṁ vākyaṁ
satyaṁ priya-hitaṁ ca yat
svādhyāyābhyasanaṁ caiva
vāṇ-mayaṁ tapa ucyate

"Words that are unagitating, truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and engaged in the study of scriptural texts, certainly count as austerity in relation to speech." (Bhagavad-Gita 17.15)

In any case, I would venture to say that it goes without saying (!!) that such 'austere' speech would certainly consist of humility and humble expressions. I think it is vertaibly impossible to describe the wondrous nature of humility as a large number books can be written about the manifold ways in which this principle can be observed in all sorts of situations. Maybe that's why it is written in Bhakti-Ratnakara above that true happiness lies in humility and this is why Sriman Mahaprabhu made it a point to teach it to His followers. More so that humility descends as a a result of His mercy. What else is there to say?

Mahaprabhu will deliver you

It is not just Vaishnavas who we have to be wary of offending because, as Mahaprabhu says, we should be wary of offending anyone!

ananta brahmANDa yata, saba mora dAsa
eteke ye para hiMse sei yAya nAza

All are My servants throughout
the innumerable universes, so
anyone who commits violence
against any of them is destroyed.

In the context of the dialogue, Mahaprabhu is speaking about the evils of Vaishnava-aparadha and in this verse speaks of aparadha in general, so while 'hiMsa' usually means violence, in this context it is 'aparadha' that is meant.

And then comes one of the most beautiful images I have ever seen in literature:

bAhu tuli' jagatere bale gaura-dhAma
"anindaka hai' sabe bala kRSNa-nAma

Raising His arms and addressing the world, Gaura
said: "All of you chant Krishna's names without offenses!

anindaka hai' ye sakRt kRSNa bale
satya satya muJi tAre uddhAriba hele"

If one says 'Krishna' even once without
offense, I will certainly deliver him."

(CB 3.19.210..213-214)

Dear me, such a beautiful image. Beautiful Mahaprabhu raising His arms aloft and imploring the world to chant 'Krishna' without offenses and promising to personally deliver them!

Mahaprabhu The LORD!

I love this little extract from Caitanya-bhagavata that I spotted the other day. The scene is set like so:

A sannyasi arrived at the house of Advaita Prabhu and, after the normal niceties, desired to ask Advaita Acharya a question. "How is Keshava Bharati related to Chaitanya?" Advaita was in a quandary, for how could he answer? The Lord has no superior, but Chaitanya had accepted Sri Keshava Bharati as master. Contemplating on both the worldly and spiritual aspects of the question, Advaita replied, "Keshava Bharati is Chaitanya's guru. But you already knew this so why did you ask?"

At that moment, Advaita's young son Achyutananda came running into the house after play and had heard the words of his esteemed father. In mock anger he chastised Advaita for describing Chaitanya as an ordinary mortal having a guru, and corrected his "misconception". What follows are the beautiful words of Sri Achyutananda as he describes Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Lord and identifies Him as Maha-Vishnu, the Creator:

ananta brahmāṇḍa sei caitanya-icchāya
saba caitanyera loma-kūpete miśāya

"By the will of Chaitanya, innumerable universes
issue forth from the hair-pores of His body".

jala-krīḍā-parāyaṇa caitanya-gosāñi
viharena ātma-krīḍa-āra dui nāi

"It is Caitanya Gosai who enjoys His own
pastimes in the [Great Ocean] with no other."

yata dekha mahāmuni - mahā abhimāna
uddeśa nā thāke kāro, kothā kāra nāma

"It has been observed that the great sages who were very
proud of themselves did not know their situation or their names."

punaḥ sei caitanyera acintya-icchāya
nābhi-padma haite brahmā hayena līlāya
haiyāo nā thāke dekhite kichu śakti
aveśeṣe karena ekānta-bhāve bhakti

"By the inconceivable will of Caitanya, Brahma appears
from the lotus flower that sprouts from His navel.
Yet after his appearance he has no power to see anything
until he worships the Lord with one-pointed devotion."

tabe bhakti-vaśe tuṣṭa haiyā tāhāne
tattva-upadeśa prabhu kahena āpane

"Observing his devotion and being pleased thereof, Prabhu
[Caitanya] imparts the tattva of everything unto him."

tabe sei brahmā prabhu-ājñā kari' sire
sṛṣṭi kari' sei jñāna kahena sabāre

"Obeying the will of Prabhu, Brahma begins to create.
He then imparted that knowledge unto others."

sei jñāna sanakādi pāi' brahmā haite
pracāra karena tabe kṛpāya jagate

"The four Kumaras headed by Sanaka received that knowledge
from Brahma, and mercifully preached it throughout the creation."

(CB 3.4.162-169)

Achyutananda went on to say a few mote things. After hearing thus, Advaita Acharya was so impressed that he embraced his son and shed tears of joy, as did the sannyasi who heard the boy's glorification of Mahaprabhu and similarly wept joyfully.

May we all be blessed with the boon of joyful tears after hearing such beautiful narrations.

Mahaprabhu's Beautiful Lotus Feet

For years I have been telling anyone who'll listen about the glories of Mahaprabhu's beautiful Golden Lotus Feet. Mahaprabhu's lotus feet are the most beautiful golden colour, softer than a rose. His toenails are so shiny, you can see your face in them.

And guess what! I just found out it's confirmed by scripture!

aruNa kamala yena caraNa-yugala
daza nakha yena daza tarpaNa nirmala

"His two feet are like reddish lotuses,
and His ten toenails are like ten shiny mirrors." (CB 3.4.33)

How nice it is to get your inclinations confirmed by shastra. :)

"May Our Family Increase!"

I was going through CB Madhya-khanda today, the chapter describing Sri Gaurahari's return to Navadvipa from Gaya after receiving diksha from Sri Ishvara Puripada. As Mahaprabhu recounts the basic details of His trip to Mother Sachi and the other Vaishnavas, his joyful memories cause him to faint and revive in a constant cycle, body horripilating and tears streaming from His holy eyes at the very mention of Gaya as "pada-padma-tirtha", and ecstatically crying "Where is Krishna?" to the astonishment and amazement of the residents of Navadvipa.

ārambhilā mahāprabhu āpana-prakāśa
ananta brahmāṇda-maya haila ullāsa

As Mahaprabhu began to manifest
Himself, unlimited universes rejoiced!

'prema-vṛṣṭi karite prabhura śubhārambha'
dhvani śuni' yaya yathā bhāgavata-vṛnda

'The auspicious beginning of Prabhu's distribution
of prema is about to begin.' Hearing thus, all the
devotees immediately ventured to that spot.
(CB 2. 1. 47-48)

Finding Himself unable to speak, Prabhu directed only a few of His associates (Sriman Pandit, Sadashiva Brahmachari and Murari Pandit) to meet the next morning at Shuklambhara Brahmachari's house where He promised to give fuller details. As that most auspicious day dawned, Sriman Pandita joyfully came to Srivasa Thakura's beauteous garden to pick flowers for offering to Mahaprabhu, and revealed the news of his impending meeting with the Lord to Srivasa, Gadadhara, Gopinath and Ramai, who were also picking flowers for their morning worship. After relating the happenings of the previous day to them in detail, Sriman Pandit urged them that there was every reason to believe him and his description was greeted with the triumphant and joyful chanting of Hari-nama from his listeners.

prathamei balilena śrīvāsa udāra
"gotra bāḍāuna kṛṣṇa āmā' sabākāra"

The magnanimous Srivasa was the first
to speak: "May Krishna increase our family."

gotraṁ nu vardhatām iti

May our family increase.
(CB 2.1.73-74)

This is the magic mantra!!!!! "Gotraṁ nu vardhatām iti" - the most holy words spoken by Bhakta-avatara Srivasa Pandit in the Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, the magic words in seed form that will bestow great blessings upon the world!! How wonderful!!! The most wonderful and benevolent mission of Mahaprabhu is about to start, and billions of jivas will be drawn to His fold!! Indeed so:

'tathāstu' 'tathāstu' bale bhāgavata-gaṇa
'sabei bhājuka kṛṣṇacandrera caraṇa'

'So shall it be!' 'So shall it be!' exclaimed the devotees.
'Let everyone worship the feet of Krishnacandra!'
(CB 2.1.76)

Ramanavami 2007 Contemplations

And for Ramanavami 2007, I tracked down some mentions of similarities between Rama-Lakshmana and Gaura-Nitai, irrepressibly sweet.

Can any Vaishnava hold himself when contemplating the explosive joy and gladness of the first meeting of Gauracandra and Nityananda?? When Gauracandra stood directly in front of Nityananda, the latter recognised Him as the lord of His life. Gauracandra indicated to Srivasa to recite a verse from Bhagavatam (barhApIDaM..), upon which Nityananda lost consciousness in ecstasy and fell to the ground after hearing it. After awaking, He roared in anand and danced up for joy, sighed deeply while gazing upon the beautiful face of Gauracandra and laughed loudly, clapping his hands and displaying all the ecstatic symptoms. The sight was frightening to some of the assembled Vaishnavas, who feared that Nityananda may hurt himself in the extremes of ecstasy.

dharite nArilA yadi vaiSNava-sakale
vizvambhara lailena ApanAra kole
When all the Vaishnavas failed to hold Him still, Vishvambhara personally took Him on His lap.

vizvambhara-kole mAtra gelA nityAnanda
samarpiyA prANa tAne hailA niSpanda

As soon as Nityananda was taken on Vishvambhara's lap,
He surrendered His life to Him and became motionless.
(CB 2.4.20-21)

bhAse nityAnanda caitanyera prema-jale
zakti-hata lakSmaNa ye-heNa rAma-kole

prema-bhakti-bANe mUrchA gela nityAnanda
nityAnanda kole kari' kaGde gauracandra

Nityananda floated on the waters of Caitanya's love, just as
Laksmana remained in the lap of Rama after being hit by the
shakti-shela arrow. Nityananda lost consciousness due to being hit
by the arrow of prema-bhakti. Holding Nityananda
on His lap, Gauracandra began to weep.

ki Ananda-viraha haila dui jane
pUrve yena zuniyAchi zrI-rAma-lakSmaNe

The bliss of separation relished between the Two was
alike to that relished by Sri Rama and Laksmana previously.

gauracandra nityAnande snehera ye sImA
zrI-rAma-lakSmaNa vahi nAhika upamA

There is no limit to the affection between Gauracandra and Nityananda
other than that which is found between Rama and Laksmana.
(CB 2.4.23-26)

"I Am Yours"

My friend Madhava recently posted this amazing quote from Mahaprabhu on Vilasa Kunja, I have slightly modified it:

kṛṣṇa, tomāra haṅa, yadi bale-eka-bāra |
māyā-bandha haite kṛṣṇa tāre kare pāra ||

"'Krishna! I have become yours!' — if one says a single time,
Krishna will have that person cross beyond the bonds of illusion."
(CC 2.22.33)

This is totally amazing! It started me thinking about how "easy" it is to surrender to the Lord by just stating it once with sincerity that you are His. But is it really that easy? Are you His, say, when you are talking about Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother on the phone to your friends? Are you His, when your mouth is salivating at the thought of some juicy treats? Are you His, when you gladly pay money for some rubbish CD that you will probably never listen to?

Now this probably sounds like the typical "yoof" rant that I was spoon-fed for so many years and which I spoon-fed in turn to so many others. But it's not, it's really more a question of heightening awareness over so-called surrender. The problem is the same everywhere; some critics or disillusioned followers of Christianity have often mused over how ridiculous it is to confess and repent one's sins on a Sunday and then proceed to sin through the rest of the week. I would be more concerned about trying to maintain an attitude of constant awareness of surrender at each moment. A prick of the conscience at the very least should occur if one is engaged in activities that are not pleasing to Mahaprabhu, much less an outright disgust and a cause to spit.

But there's me getting all judgemental and superiority-complexed again. Whatever happened to trinad api sunicena? The basic point is this: to stand in front of Krishna and declare to Him that you are His is no small feat. It most definitely involves the most heartfelt surrender with an implicit commitment to follow His direction, as well as a certain amount of self-consciousness that acknowledges one's lowly position, what is the point of such half-hearted surrender otherwise? And above all, love. To stand in front of Krishna with a heart brimming over with pure love and a pure-hearted surrender to Him, just once with full humility and sincereity, and maya is destroyed forever.

Such a beautiful thing to hear directly from the beautiful lips of Sriman Mahaprabhu. And the weight of His promise!

Dear reader, am I trying to convince you or myself? I think that the honest answer is 'both'.

CB deeper thoughts

I haven't progressed with CB in the last two days due to taking care of my father and so on, and there may have been an element of laziness in there somewhere too. But tonight my memory went back to a verse about the dismal situation (of Kali-yuga) around the time of Mahaprabhu's imminent appearance. In verse 63 of Chapter 2, Sri VDT says:

kRSNa-rAma-bhakti-zUnya sakala saMsAra
prathama-kalite haila bhaviSya-AcAra

"The whole creation was devoid of devotion for Krsna and Balaram, and the future symptoms of Kali-yuga were manifest in the beginning of the age."

But the particular characteristic that made me wonder was Verse 71:

ati-vaDa sukRti snAnera samaya
'govinda' 'puNDarIkAkSa'-nAma uccAraya

"Only the most pious people would recite the names of 'Govinda' and 'Pundarikaksa' at the time of taing bath."

I was puzzled. I had heard that talking at the time of taking bath makes the bather lose the spiritual potency or energy that is gained from bathing, what to speak of the popular habit of singing in the shower that is widely prevalent in the West! On some occasions when I was showering, Sri Harinama danced around in my mind and I indulged it but I don't ever recall chanting it or singing it in the shower. For some reason my crazy mind stuck to that notion that to talk or sing during a shower would dissipate spiritual potency, hmmmm I think that qualifies as an offence to Sri Harinam Itself, eh?

Well, it surprised me when I read Text 71. It seems that while describing the pitiful situation of dharma in Kali-yuga, the author mentions that 'only' the most pious would chant the Names at the time of taking bath. The way it sounds as if this was one of the few good qualities of Kali-yuga at the time of Mahaprabhu's appearance. Well at least as far as this text is concerned, it seems to be a rather good activity to chant the Names at bath-time after all. What was I thinking all of this time?! Chanting the names at bath-time can only increase whatever potency you're getting from the bath. Man, do I need to get some queer ideas out of my head or what. I guess I know who I should blame, but let's not play that game here.

'prathama-kalite haila bhaviSya-AcAra' from Text 63 is also an interesting consideration. For a fuller explanation of this line, Srimat Kanupriya Gosvami has written an excellent treatise entitled 'The Dawn of The Age of Love' in which he mentions the reasons why the symptoms of Kali-yuga are so prominent in this Kali-yuga than it is in previous or future Kali-yugas. I have copied this text and uploaded this file somewhere on GD. I think I should update it and 'modernise' it with proper diacritics and all, as I just copied the original text in order to retain the flavour of the Bengali English. That's a project I can get along with. If only I could remember where I kept my copy of the original text....